


The Chosen One

by ami_ven



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: writerverse, F/M, Friendship, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:54:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23152810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: “Do you ever wonder what would have happened if youhadchosen Slytherin?”
Relationships: Hermione Granger & Harry Potter & Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 6
Kudos: 52





	The Chosen One

**Author's Note:**

> Written for LJ community "writerverse" prompt "at the beginning"

“Do you ever wonder,” asked Hermione, one night, “what would have happened if you _had_ chosen Slytherin?”

She and Ron had a small cottage at the edge of Ottery St. Catchpole, and Harry came for dinner at least once a week, however busy his schedule was. Afterwards, they’d often sit by the fire, just like they had in the Gryffindor common room, usually reading or working separately, but sometimes just talking together.

“I do wonder,” Harry admitted. “But by the time we got to the Sorting Ceremony, I’d pretty much made up my mind.”

“How?” said Hermione. “You were raised by muggles and you didn’t know a thing about Hogwarts before you got there.”

“Maybe not,” he said. “But I did know Ron.”

“What, me?” said Ron. “What did I have to do with it?”

“Everything,” said Harry. “I’d met Malfoy before, did I tell you? In Diagon Alley, when I was getting my robes. He had no idea who I was, then, but he still kept going on about his father and how he was sure he’d be sorted into Slytherin and how they should keep muggle-borns out of Hogwarts.”

“Without knowing if you were a clueless muggle-born or a snooty pureblood?” said Ron, shaking his head. “Not a great strategy, that is.”

“No,” Harry agreed. “And then he was so nasty to you before the Sorting. I wasn’t sure about the other houses, at that point, but I knew I didn’t want to be wherever he was, and he was Sorted before either of us.”

“I get wanting to avoid a jerk like Malfoy,” said Ron. “But that still doesn’t mean it was because of me.”

Harry smiled. “Because you were nice to me, without knowing who I was. Your mum helped me get onto Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters. The twins helped me put my trunk on the train. And you came to sit with me, when I was alone.”

Ron frowned. “I only came in because Fred and George—” It still hurt, for all of them, to talk about Fred, but they didn’t let that stop them. “—said you were Harry Potter.”

“But you stayed,” Harry insisted. “You shared your sandwiches.”

“They were corned beef,” protested Ron. “And I was pretty horrible to Hermione.”

“I was pretty horrible to everyone,” Hermione said, ruefully.

“You were just used to being alone,” said Ron, with a wisdom his eleven-year-old self never had. “But I kind of liked you anyway, even if I didn’t know it. I mean, when you were horrible, I usually didn’t want you to go away, I just wanted you to be less horrible, so I wouldn’t – I’m making this worse, aren’t I?”

But Hermione laughed and caught his hand. “I know what you mean, darling. And, that’s good to know, isn’t it, Ron? Harry might have been the Chosen One, but _you_ are really the one who saved the world.”

Ron grinned. “I guess I am,” he said, smugly, and Harry hit him with a pillow, both of them laughing, too.

THE END


End file.
